Early Times Report
Jammu, July 24: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted raids at 40 locations across Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday in connection with fake gun license scam.
The scam was exposed in 2017 by the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Rajasthan Police and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Madhya Pradesh Police. Over 50 people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the illegal issuance of arms licenses.
According to Rajasthan ATS, over 3,000 permits were granted allegedly in the name of Army personnel.
Investigations carried out by Rajasthan ATS and Madhya Pradesh Police had revealed that at least 40,000 licenses were issued in J&K and a majority of them were fake.
Based on the findings of Rajasthan ATS and Madhya Pradesh Police, the then Governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, N N Vohra had handed over the matter to CBI for a thorough probe.
After taking over the case, the CBI carried out searches at 17 places, including the premises of two senior IAS officers, in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Searches were carried out at three places in Kashmir, 11 places in Jammu, and one each in Gurugram (Haryana), Mohali (Punjab), and Noida (Uttar Pradesh).
The CBI sleuths conducted raids at Srinagar, Jammu, Baramulla, Udhampur, Kishtwar, Shopian, Rajouri, Doda, and Pulwama.
After conducting the raids, CBI arrested two former District Magistrates of Kupwara.
It is alleged that more than 2.78 lakh arms licenses were issued to non-entitled persons from 2013 to 2016. The CBI also collected documents about the issuance of said armed licenses allegedly spread over 22 districts of J&K.
Official sources said that during investigation and scrutiny of documents, the role of certain gun dealers was found who were in connivance with the public servants, especially the then-District Magistrates and Additional District Magistrates (ADM) of concerned districts had allegedly issued such illegal arms licenses to the ineligible persons.
It was also alleged that the persons who got these licenses were not residents of the places from where the said arms licenses were issued. |
